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Recordings of each segment are posted below in time order ... and if we drop from mind all thought of 'now' 'then' 'here' and 'there' ... we will all be sitting together right when and where you are!

This Retreat celebrates the 'official' closure of our ANGO (90 day Special Practice Season) at Treeleaf, is a part of current preparations for our JUKAI (Undertaking the Precepts) Ceremony in January, and marks ROHATSU ... the traditional holiday in Japan celebrating the time of the Buddha's Enlightenment.

Jundo will be guiding the first day of sitting on Saturday, and Taigu on Sunday.

In case of technical problems, please just go along as best you can with the schedule ... we sit with "what is".. .

OF COURSE, EVERYTHING IN MODERATION ... if the sitting ever feels too much, be sure to walk lots and lots of Kinhin (even if during a sitting period). And if the whole retreat becomes too much, or you feel ill, you may slow down ... , spread things out, shorten the sittings ... or STOP! Be sure that you have someone close by whom you can call, or who can check on you from time to time. If there is any question about health, do not take any chances!

DAY 1
06:00-06:50 AM Entrance by Officiant (Jundo) & Zazen. If you usually wear a Rakusu, DO NOT wear it yet (keep it in its bag) until Takkesage (Kesa Verse) later in morning.
06:50-07:00 Kinhin* (All Kinhin times can be bathroom break)
07:00-07:35 Zazen
07:35-07:45 Kinhin

07:45-08:25 Zazen + Kesa Verse
08:25-09:05 "Long" Service.Please follow along in the Sutra Books that will be provided. Floor prostrations when hear ching-ching-ching-ching- ching roll of bell.
09:05-09:20 REST PERIOD

06:00-06:40 AM Zazen Begin sitting without instruction. If you usually wear a Rakusu, DO NOT wear it yet (keep it in its bag) until Takkesage (Kesa Verse) later in morning.
06:40-07:00 Long (20 minute) Kinhin*
07:00-07:35 Zazen
07:35-07:45 Kinhin

07:45-08:25 Zazen + Kesa Verse When instructed, place on Kesa and recite Kesa Verse. All others, hands in Gassho.
08:25-08:55 "Long" Service Please follow along in the Sutra Books that will be provided. Floor prostrations when hear ching-ching-ching-ching- ching roll of bell.
08:55-09:20 REST PERIOD

NOTE: THERE HAS BEEN AN ADJUSTMENT TO THE SCHEDULED TIMES FROM LAST YEAR FOR UNITS 1-1, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9 and 2-7. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO NOTE THE NEW TIMES.

For Dharma Talks by Jundo during the first day of Retreat, we will be dancing with the following. Please be sure to print these and place them with you.

Shōbōgenzō Zanmai-ō-zanmai
The Samādhi That Is the King of Samādhis
(Translation by Gudo Nishijima & Chodo Cross)

Translator’s Note: Zanmai is the Japanese pronunciation of the phonetic
rendering in Chinese of the Sanskrit word “samādhi,” which means the state
in zazen; that is, the balanced state of body and mind. Ō means “king.” We
can consider that there are many kinds of samādhi in our daily lives. However,
according to Buddhist theory the most important and best samādhi is
just the samādhi that we can experience in zazen. Therefore, we call the state
in zazen “the king of samādhis.” In this chapter, Master Dōgen explains what
zazen is, and so he chose the title Zanmai-ō-zanmai, “The Samādhi That Is
the King of Samādhis.”

[231] To transcend the whole universe at once, to live a great and valuable
life in the house of the Buddhist patriarchs, is to sit in the full lotus posture.
To tread over the heads of non-Buddhists and demons; to become, in the inner
sanctum of the Buddhist patriarchs, a person in the concrete state, is to sit in
the full lotus posture. To transcend the supremacy of the Buddhist patriarchs’
supremacy, there is only this one method. Therefore, Buddhist patriarchs practice
it solely, having no other practices at all. Remember, the universe in sitting
is far different from other universes. Clearly understanding this truth,
Buddhist patriarchs pursue and realize the establishment of the will, training,
the state of bodhi, and nirvana. Just in the moment of sitting, investigate
whether the universe is vertical, and whether it is horizontal. Just in the moment
of sitting, what is the sitting itself? Is it a somersault? Is it a state of vigorous
activity? Is it thinking? Is it beyond thinking? Is it doing something? Is it not
doing anything? Is it sitting inside of sitting? Is it sitting inside of the bodymind?
Is it sitting that is free of “the inside of sitting,” “the inside of the bodymind,”
and so on? There should be investigation of thousands and tens of
thousands of points like these. Sit in the full lotus posture with the body. Sit
in the full lotus posture with the mind. Sit in the full lotus posture being free
of body and mind.

[233] My late master, the eternal buddha, says, “To practice [za]zen is
to get free of body and mind. Just to sit is to have attainment from the beginning.
It is not necessary to burn incense, to do prostrations, to recite the
Buddha’s name, to confess, or to read sutras.”

Clearly, in the last four or five hundred years, only one person, my late
master, has scooped out the Eye of the Buddhist Patriarch and sat inside the
Eye of the Buddhist Patriarch; few people have equaled him, even in China.
Very few people realize that the act of sitting is the Buddha-Dharma and that
the Buddha-Dharma is the act of sitting. Even if some physically understand
sitting to be the Buddha-Dharma, none has realized sitting as sitting. How
then can any be maintaining and relying upon the Buddha-Dharma as the
Buddha-Dharma? This being so, there is sitting with the mind, which is not
the same as sitting with the body. There is sitting with the body, which is not
the same as sitting with the mind. And there is sitting that is free of body and
mind, which is not the same as “sitting that is free of body and mind.” Already
to have attained the state like this is the Buddhist patriarchs’ state in which
practice and understanding are in mutual accord. Maintain and rely upon this
awareness, thought, reflection. Investigate this mind, will, consciousness.

[235] Śākyamuni Buddha addresses a large assembly: “If we sit in the
full lotus posture, the body-mind will experience samādhi, and many
people will revere the dignity and virtue of the state. Like the sun lighting
up the world, it clears away sleepy, lazy, and melancholy mind.
The body is light and tireless. Perception and consciousness are also
light and responsive. We should sit like coiled dragons. On seeing just
a picture of the lotus posture, even the king of demons is afraid. How
much more so if he sees a person really experiencing the state of truth,
sitting without inclination or agitation?”

Thus, on seeing a picture of the lotus posture, even the king of demons
is surprised, worried, and afraid. Still more, when we really sit in the lotus
posture, the virtue is beyond imagination. In short, the happiness and virtue
of everyday sitting are limitless.

[236] Śākyamuni Buddha addresses a large assembly: “This is why we
sit in the full lotus posture.” Then the Tathāgata, the World-honored
One, teaches his disciples that they should sit like this. Sometimes non-
Buddhists pursue the truth by continuously standing on tiptoes, sometimes
they pursue the truth by continuously standing up, and sometimes
they pursue the truth by carrying the legs on the shoulders. Mad and
obstinate mind like this sinks into the sea of wrongness, and the body
is not peaceful. For this reason, the Buddha teaches his disciples to sit
in the full lotus posture, sitting with the mind upright. Why? [Because]
if the body is upright, the mind is easily set right. When the body sits
upright, the mind is not weary, the mind is regulated, the intention is
right, and the attention is bound to what is immediately present. If the
mind races or becomes distracted and if the body leans or becomes agitated,
[sitting upright] regulates them and causes them to recover. When
we want to experience samādhi and want to enter samādhi, even if the
mind is chasing various images and is variously distracted, [sitting
upright] completely regulates all such states. Practicing like this, we
experience and enter the samādhi that is king of samādhis.

[237] Evidently, sitting in the full lotus posture is just the samādhi that
is king of samādhis, and is just experience and entry. All samādhis are the
followers of this, the king of samādhis. To sit in the full lotus posture is to
set the body straight, to set the mind straight, to set the body-mind straight,
to set Buddhist patriarchs straight, to set practice and experience straight, to
set the brain straight, and to set the life-blood straight. Now, sitting our human
skin, flesh, bones, and marrow in the full lotus posture, we sit the samādhi
that is king among samādhis in the full lotus posture. The World-honored
One is constantly maintaining and relying upon the practice of sitting in the
full lotus posture. He authentically transmits the practice of sitting in the full
lotus posture to his disciples, and he teaches human beings and gods to sit
in the full lotus posture. The mind-seal authentically transmitted by the Seven
Buddhas is just this. Under the bodhi tree Śākyamuni Buddha passes fifty
minor kalpas, passes sixty kalpas, and passes countless kalpas, sitting in the
lotus posture. Sitting in the full lotus posture for three weeks, or sitting for
hours, is the turning of the splendid Dharma wheel, and is the lifelong teaching
of the Buddha. It lacks nothing. It is just a yellow scroll on a red stick.
The meeting of Buddha with Buddha is this moment. This is just the time
when living beings become buddha.

[239] The First Patriarch, Venerable Bodhidharma, after arriving from
the west, passed nine years facing the wall at Shōrinji on Shōshitsuhō in the
Sūgaku Mountains, sitting in zazen in the lotus posture. From that time
through to today, brains and eyes have pervaded China. The lifeblood of the
First Patriarch is only the practice of sitting in the full lotus posture. Before
the First Patriarch came from the west the people of Eastern Lands never
knew sitting in the full lotus posture. Since the ancestral master came from
the west they have known it. This being so, just to sit in the lotus posture,
day and night, from the beginning to the end of this life, and for tens of thousands
of lives, without leaving the temple grounds and without having any
other practices, is the samādhi that is the king of samādhis.

Shōbōgenzō Zanmai-ō-zanmai
Preached to the assembly at Kippō Temple in
Etsu district, on the fifteenth day of the second
lunar month in the second year of Kangen (1244)

THE TEN GRAVE PRECEPTS
With Commentaries by Bodhidharma and Dogen Zenji

1. Not Killing. Bodhidarma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the everlasting Dharma, not giving rise to the idea of killing is called the Precept of Not Killing. Dogen Zenji: The Buddha seed grows in accordance with not taking life. Transmit the life of Buddha's wisdom and do not kill.

2. Not Stealing. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the unattainable Dharma, not having thoughts of gaining is called the Precept of Not Stealing. Dogen Zenji: The self and things of the world are just as they are. The gate of emancipation is open.

3. Not Misusing Sex. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the ungilded Dharma, not creating a veneer of attachment is called the Precept of Not Misusing Sex. Dogen Zenji: The Three Wheels are pure and clear. When you have nothing to desire, you follow the way of all Buddhas.

4. Not Lying. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the inexplicable Dharma, not preaching a single word is called the Precept of Not Lying. Dogen Zenji: The Dharma Wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither surplus nor lack. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.

5. Not Giving or Taking Drugs. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the intrinsically pure Dharma, not giving rise to delusions is called the Precept of Not Giving or Taking Drugs. Dogen Zenji: Drugs are not brought in yet. Don't let them invade. That is the great light.

6. Not Discussing Faults of Others. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the flawless Dharma, nor expounding upon error is called the Precept of Not Speaking of Faults of Others. Dogen Zenji: In the Buddha Dharma, there is one path, one Dharma, one realization, one practice. Don't permit fault-finding. Don't permit haphazard talk.

7. Not Praising Yourself While Abusing Others. Bodhidharma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the equitable Dharma, not dwelling upon I against you is called the Precept of Not Praising Yourself while Abusing Others. Dogen Zenji: Buddhas and Ancestral Teachers realize the empty sky and the great earth. When they manifest the noble body, there is neither inside nor outside in emptiness. When they manifest the Dharma body, there is not even a bit of earth on the ground.

8. Not Sparing the DharmaAssets. Bodhidharma. Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the genuine, all-pervading Dharma, not being stingy about a single thing is called the Precept of Not Sparing the Dharma Assets. Dogen Zenji: One phrase, one verse--that is the ten thousand things and one hundred grasses; one dharma, one realization--that is all Buddhas and Ancestral Teachers. Therefore, from the beginning, there has been no stinginess at all.

9. Not Indulging in Anger. Bodhidharma: Self-natue is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the selfless Dharma, not contriving reality for the self is called the Precept of Not Indulging in Anger. Dogen Zenji: Not advancing, not retreating, not real, not empty. There is an ocean of bright clouds. There is an ocean of solemn clouds.

10. Not Defaming the Three Treasures. Bodhidhrma: Self-nature is subtle and mysterious. In the realm of the One, nor holding nihilistic concepts of ordinary beings and sages is called the Precept of Not Defaming the Three Treasures. Dogen Zenji: The teisho of the actual body is the harbour and the weir. This is the most important thing in the world. Its virtue finds its home in the ocean of essential nature. It is beyond explanation. We just accept it with respect and gratitude.

For Rohatsu, Shoji

I will be talking a bit about the chapter of Shobogenzo called Shoji, here it is:

If the Buddha is within life and death, there is no life and death.

Then again, if there is no Buddha within life and death, we are not deluded by life and death.

These are the expressions of Chia-shan and Ting-shan, two Zen masters who walked the way, so their words should not be taken lightly.

Their meaning must be clearly understood by all those who would free themselves from life and death. If you seek the Buddha outside of life and death, it is like turning the cart to the North and heading for Etsu, or looking South to see the North Star.

You will gather the cause of life and death more and more - and lose the way to liberation. If you understand that life and death are themselves Nirvana, there is no need for avoiding life and death or seeking Nirvana. Then, for the first time, you will have the possibility to free yourself from life and death.

Do not fall into the error of thinking that there is a change from life to death. Life is one position of time, and it already has a before and after. So in Buddhism it is said that life itself is no-life. Death is also a position in time, and has a before and after. So it is said that death itself is no-death.

When it is called life, there is nothing but life. When it is called death, there is nothing but death. If life comes, this is life. If death comes, this is death. There is no reason to try to escape from it, and their is no reason to cling to it either.

This life and death is the life of the Buddha.

If you try to throw it away you lose the life of the Buddha. If you cling to it you also lose the life of the Buddha, and you will obstruct the activity of Buddha. When you neither deny nor seek, you are manifesting the mind of the Buddha. But don't try to measure this by your mind. Don't try to explain it by your words. When you let go of your body and mind and forget them completely and you throw yourself into the Buddha's abode, then everything is done from the side of Buddha and you just follow along without effort or anxiety - you break free from life's suffering and are Buddha yourself. How can you then have any hindrance in your mind?

There is a very easy way to be a Buddha: Do not do any evil. Do not try to cling to life and death but, with deep compassion, work for all beings. Respect your elders and sympathize with those younger. When you do neither deny things nor seek them or think and worry about them - then you are called a buddha. Don't look for anything else.

Our thread for this Rohatsu Retreat is now open! Welcome to all our sitters!

First, a note. There have been changes in the last day to the time schedule for Units 1-7, 1-8, 1-9 and (just this morning) 2-7. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO NOTE THE NEW TIMES!

Please do print out the schedule and calculate, based on your own needs and time zone, which sections you can join "Live-Live" and which sections you will join "Live-Recorded" (because we sometimes sit while you are sleeping across the world, while you sit while we sit here in Japan) or some later time ... all while dropping all thought of here, there, now, then.

Also, please be sure to download and have with you the passages from Shobogenzo posted above by Taigu and Jundo, which will be the seed for Dharma Talks.

If you have not done so already, please do watch these little talks on making an "At Home" Oryoki, and on Gatha for our daily ministrations ...

Hi,
Looking forward to sit. Hope to sit late evening sections (GMT) live, that's the very start of the day in Japan. Otherwise I'll be sitting the recorded version. Have my oryoki bowls clean and my Gathas ready to go! Oh yeah, it's only rohatsu but I like it!
Gassho
Myozan

I'll have to keep our cats some company (they like being in the living room where there's no computer - so I'll move my zafu there for a while), but I'll definitely sit live for a quite a few hours
both on Saturday and Sunday.

Family life is keeping me busy this weekend, but I will try to do as much sitting/kinhin as possible.
However, I am ill at the moment (sinusitis infection) and actually I don't know whether it is good to sit so long and so often as I intend to do. Will find out, I guess.
Hopefully, I'll find a weekend later this month to do the whole thing...

I have to do this at another date, as my wife has started a new job requiring varied shifts and hours which leaves me in charge with the little ones. My dear parents have been called on all week during this transition and are taking time this weekend to relax (lol read recuperate!).

I will be in and out when time prermits to catch some live sitting and such but know I will be sitting along!

I am close to the computer as well for technical support should the need arise too.

Deep bows to our teachers and to all sitting or will sit this together!

My wife is not feeling well today, so I will have to do the retreat during the week. however I will sit live as much as life permits this weekend. I'm sure a little extra zazen never hurt anyone too badly

It's really inspiring to see you all! Second shift coming on Sunday US time.... Oaken and I sat Rohatsu Zazenkai together today; it was nice to be sitting together in person. See you on G+!

Gassho
Yugen

-----------------------------------------------------------
Please take all my comments with a grain of salt - I am a novice priest and anything I say is to be taken with a good dose of skepticism - Shodo Yugen

Thank you Jundo for the Saturday sessions and Taigu for Sunday session 1. Apologies for not making the rest of Sunday as I have contracted norovirus, despite my school being closed Friday for a deep clean! I thought something was brewing, but just thought it was back pain!! Good job I'm not a doctor.

Thanks to all sitting this Rohatsu. Saturday afternoon I had a glimpse of what a bright mind may be ..and it has made me determined to try a retreat again. Gassho to all.

If anyone who sat this Retreat, or as much as they were able, has any comments, criticisms, advice, tips on how to make it a better experience for next time, please let us know by posting here or writing me. Any guidance will be helpful in making a good Retreat experience next year.

Thank you all - what a marvelous Rohatsu - I will finish the Day Two sittings over the next two days -

Deep bows
Yugen

-----------------------------------------------------------
Please take all my comments with a grain of salt - I am a novice priest and anything I say is to be taken with a good dose of skepticism - Shodo Yugen

Good morning everyone, wow ... a BIG thank you to Jundo and Taigu for this wonderful practice! Thank you to all who sat along side me, it was a beautiful journey. I finished the bit of Zazen, Kinhin, Short Service, and chants this morning (even though my eyes wanted not too).

Jundo ... as for any suggestions, I do not have any as I think it was wonderful and went very well. I know there was some sound issues, but that didn't really get in the way. Taigu did have some Google + video issues and I know Shohei and I tried to help sort that out, but no luck. But even with Taigu's cold and video issues, it was still perfect and beautiful!

Deep Bows
Michael

RINDO SHINGEN
倫道 真現

As a trainee priest, please take any commentary by me on matters of the Dharma with a pinch of salt.

Nine bows to all and nine more...I am most grateful to everyone who has helped to make Treeleaf what it is.

x2

This retreat has been intimate and to the core. I am at home in Treeleaf Sangha. As far as practical issues go....... this space works, and the challenges are technical and creative. It is really showing the way.

Just want to say..... that Taigu's description of practice as.... a cow chewing grass, until the grass loses its flavour, and becomes the cow... and the cow becomes the grass. For some reason that really hit home. Gassho and thank you again Jundo and Taigu.

I just finished ... I'm exhausted, but very happy to belong to this Sangha, this retreat experience is unforgettable. I greatly appreciate the efforts of our teachers Jundo and Taigu, my fellow 'leafers in their zafus right next to me, and those who put their tech expertise so we can use this tools acroos all places and times.

Thank you to Jundo and Taigu for giving of yourselves during this wonderful retreat. Jundo I felt that leg cramp all the way in Indiana and yet you carrried on. Taigu you were suffering in health but continued to give to us. I bow to both of you. The teachings that both of you shared meant alot to me.

This is a fantastic method of sharing in retreat with many miles between everyone. Glitches happen even in an live and in person setting so nothing for me to ponder as to how to improve. I was able to catch one live but then I lost it from there. YouTube to the rescue. I am going to have to get into the Google+ for the future.

Deep thanks to Jundo and Taigu for doing this. These retreats always bring me back to beginner's mind and renew my enthusiasm for the practice (no matter how much I grumble at 5 a.m. or applaud when Jundo says "I HATE SESSHIN!")

This was also the first year I didn't have to wrestle with recordings on JustinTV, so I'm totally grateful for YouTube and Google+.

I was interested to hear (if I heard this right) Taigu say in oriyoki, his teacher would use a daikon radish to clean the bowls, and then eat it. Perhaps it would be good next year, instead of a sponge, to use a radish or maybe a piece of a crunchy vegetable to do this?

Thank you very much to Jundo and Taigu for this inspiring retreat. I sat with my husband almost the complete time, but in our time zone. We enjoyed the dharma talks very much and still think about it. The time frame of oriyoki was much to short for us, we continued eating in the rest period ;-)
We are looking forward our next Rohatsu in 2013- the first time with our baby

By the way, if anyone would like to see what Oryoki is "supposed" to look like, please watch this beautiful video of a Retreat at Zen Mountain monastery. They are very ritual conscious there, and pay special attention to form. Very much more a ballet than my "two left feet" version during our Retreat. Of course, all is beautiful in its way. As I wrote on another thread today.

We also make an effort in the Japanese Zen Traditions to be very sincere, precise and "perfect" in undertaking each ceremony. At the same time (this is the Shikantaza heart), we know that it will never be "perfect", something will always go "wrong", and yet even the worst screw up of some ritual (Oryoki eating is a prime example) is always "perfectly imperfect" and "perfectly just what it is" (which is not to be confused with "perfect just as it is"). We live through all such perspectives at once ... not neglecting the goal of doing something well, yet simultaneously dropping all goal and need to attain (a kind of healthy schizophrenia! ) We can always get better AND there is no place to "get" but ever right here. We should for "perfection" and "good", all while simultaneously dropping all dichotomies of "perfect vs. imperfect" "good and bad" (we are not nihilists).

Such is our Practice, and a "Zen Klutz" like me who always drops the incense or drops his chopsticks is very much at home!

Perhaps if folks are interested, we could have an "online class" here to make a more serious training in Oryoki. It is an old and traditional, but powerful Practice.